From Chaos to Normality
by Earendil Eldar
Summary: It was a rough night for the team, but Jack sees to it that everyone has time to recover... even Ianto.


It had been another all-nighter for Torchwood Cardiff. The sun was starting to rise by the time Ianto had the paperwork for the latest misadventure in hand. There was no time for heading home and getting a couple hours sleep. Even a shower and change weren't going to happen. He'd only have to turn around again to get in for the next day… well, _that_ day, normal time. And his to-do list was already getting out of hand since he lost most the previous day's time to field work.

Shaking his head, hoping it would clear, Ianto grabbed a spare suit from his locker and headed for the in-Hub shower to freshen up. Coffee would get him through the next few hours, even if he was going to need more of it than usual.

Jack emerged from bed after 10. He felt a little guilty about sleeping in but two deaths last night – his own, fortunately – had left him drained. Feeling better rested, but wishing he'd convinced Ianto to stay with him, Jack strolled over to the kitchen to fix himself some morning coffee. Not that it would be anything like Ianto's.

He was a bit surprised to see the coffee machine not in its usual pristine condition. It had obviously been used…. Not so surprising, though, Jack told himself. Ianto probably had a cup before leaving last night and was too tired to tidy up. Jack made his cup and then gave the machine a quick once over. That would, hopefully, keep Ianto's blood pressure from spiking too much when he saw it the next morning.

Jack couldn't help smiling to himself. Theirs might be a unique relationship, but it was certainly getting more and more domestic. It was nice.

As he went to have a look at the rift stats for the day, Jack was idly considering dropping in on Ianto with dinner that night. Or maybe they could go out, if Ianto wasn't too tired. Something on the CCTV caught Jack's eye but was gone before he was sure what he saw. Typing in the command to go back to the last set of images, Jack shook his head. The image from the camera in the archive room showed a dozing Ianto slumped over a stack of files.

Jack headed down to the archives and, for a minute, just looked at Ianto. He looked so exhausted and there was no way he could be getting a restful sleep like that.

"Hey," Jack said quietly, kissing Ianto's cheek. "Come on."

"What? Jack… what happened?"

"You fell asleep."

"Oh fuck. I'm sorry, I just…. I need more coffee. I'll get this sorted, I promise -"

"No, you won't," Jack said firmly. "You're going to bed. And not with me this time."

"Jack, this work needs to be done."

"According to you. According to me, you sleep, for the rest of the day. I'll fire you otherwise," Jack said, pointing and attempting to look very serious.

Ianto wasn't too tired to roll his eyes.

Alright, then, Jack thought. If coercion didn't work, there was always…. "Please, Yan? I'm worried about you."

Ianto glared. Jack pouted pleadingly. Ianto glared harder. Jack's bottom lip practically trembled.

"Fuck you, bloody manipulative Jack Harkness," Ianto grumbled, caving in and walking away from the archives.

Jack smirked behind him. "Works every time," he said under his breath. Jack followed and caught up with Ianto just in time to see him pulling on a jacket and taking out his keys.

"Oh no!" Jack protested. "You are _not_ driving. You're staying here. I'm taking care of you. Don't make me use my pout again!"

"Arse," Ianto muttered, shrugging off his jacket again and plodding mechanically to Jack's foxhole.

"And a gorgeous one at that!" Jack shouted after him. "Did I ever tell you about winning the Time Agency's Rear of -"

"Shut up!" Ianto shouted.

Jack snickered and again followed Ianto, hopping down into his bunker without bothering with the ladder. "Ok, I'm being serious now. You really do need sleep. How else are you going to keep up with me _all night long_?"

"Viagra and a cock ring?" Ianto suggested, dropping his folded trousers on Jack's chair and slipping into his still-warm bed.

"Ok, that is one way. But I really prefer you the natural way," Jack said, sitting on the edge of the bed and kissing Ianto's forehead. "You sleep. I won't touch your files and I'll be very, very gentle with the coffee maker, and I won't make too much noise…."

"Just tell Owen and Gwen to keep it down when they get in, yeah?"

"Ianto… it's a day off. I told them all whoever comes in today is off the team. You, of course, were squirreled away and had your comms off so _you_ didn't get Imperative Harkness Directive Number 583. That's not safe. But we'll discuss it later. Sleep."

Ianto curled his fingers around Jack's hand and was out like a light in minutes. Jack knew from experience that there was generally too much noise in the hub, even on a quiet day, for Ianto to get the deep rest he needed. Jack gently removed his hand from Ianto's and took off his wrist strap and tapped a couple buttons until the sound of rain filled the little space. "Sleep, love of my lives," Jack whispered before leaving Ianto alone.

When Ianto woke 10 hours later to the sound of rain, he was momentarily startled, thinking he'd left the bedroom window open, allowing it to rain in. Glancing around and seeing he was in Jack's room, he settled back down. No windows. Then, 30 seconds later, Ianto opened his eyes again. Why was it raining in the hub? It was perpetually damp, but it didn't rain in. Something had to be the matter with the fountain, because that was definitely dripping water he heard.

Ianto pushed himself up from the bed to investigate, grabbing Jack's dressing gown. The sound was gone when he got up to Jack's office, but he could still hear it down in the bunk. That's when he realized it was coming from Jack's wrist strap, which he rarely ever took off.

Ianto pocketed it, not having the first clue how to deactivate it and not wanting to press the wrong thing and wind up on Calisto.

"Jack?" Ianto called out.

"Over here," Jack shouted back from the greenhouse. "I've gotten so much done today!" Jack said proudly as Ianto came through. "No rift activity and no team bugging me every few minutes. I should declare days off more often."

"Pretty sure the rift doesn't follow your rota," Ianto said, as Jack wrapped him in a hug.

"You're raining."

"Didn't know how to turn it off," Ianto said, handing Jack's strap back to him. "Didn't know you had a white noise player in that thing."

"Didn't used to. The Doctor put it in. I thought it was just more of his silly junk until I couldn't sleep one night. It felt so… normal. Sleeping on a rainy night."

Ianto sighed and held Jack a little tighter. Jack's craving for normality always left him a bit sad. But it also reminded Ianto that no matter how difficult it sometimes was for him to understand their relationship, it was one thing that made Jack feel normal. And that was worth all the weevils and Risen Mittens and Doctors and John Harts the rift could throw at them.


End file.
